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Saint Mortimer
Patron saint of unity and record keeping (Arcan/Leo/Pado) Chief advocate for Arcanville/Vatic unity, one of the founders of the Covenant 'Clerics' The majority of his clerics are either cloistered or aesthetic monks. Those who are more wandering clerics are often negotiators or peacekeepers of the land. Battle hardened clerics of St. Mortimer are rare but do exist in undead-fighting purifiers of holy sites, but still follow the methods of St. Mortimer in their own way. 'Alignment' Tend more to Lawful Neutral than Neutral Good, though Lawful Good is still common 'Appearance' Even the clerics dress very monk like, in blank robes with some white highlighting the patterns 'Counties' Arcanville, Leoshire, Padomar and even Ranadon hold him in the highest respect, but most possibly this is because these were 'Church and Holy Sites' Mortimer’s Road Mortimer’s Cross 'Belief and Sayings' The dead must always been buried and recorded A non-violent approach must always be tried first “The first step towards peace is often made in the opposite direction” “To not know who has come before you, is to walk a road unseen” 'Prayers and Practices' “May thy deeds go acknowledged, '' ''yet thy methods be unseen, '' ''so our children may lean, in a way that is clean” Fasting and suffering as a martyr is a very Mortimerite thing to do 'History and Legends' Born in 189 QC his father was a paladin (in a time before Aolla’s Code of Celibacy) and his mother a paper maker, he became an orphan at the age of ten after his father was sent on a quest with a band of other paladins to a land of evil called Quilltrun never to return, and his mother killed by a bugbear raid. Looked after by the church he ended up working for a graveyard for the monks of Black Lion. 'Mortimer and the Spell Blight' In the year 204 QC a terrible spell blight struck Arcanville, causing an illness to all spellcasters. To cure it, the relaxed Azamoph Spellweaver and strict Selegon Padomar traced out the original cause of the illness to a cursed blood line and this brought them to Black Lion to ask the monks about the location of an ancestor of a recently dead mage. They knew not such heritage, only the names of the buried dead, but a usually quiet 15 year old Mortimer spoke up that he knew. A keen reader with an eidetic memory and obsessive personality he had made links in his head about all the dead they kept there and they manage to find the body, defeat the now undead being and cure the illness. Selegon was so impressed that he commissioned Mortimer to write down all the knowledge he could gather on the buried dead, little knowing the obsessive young man would spend 6 years cataloguing not only the dead of Black Lion, but all over Hilsyren that he physically could. In this time he also took on the cloth of an Ethosian cleric. So impressed with his work, Selegon pronounced the 21 year old man, Heritage Keeper of Hilsyren and gave him even greater rights to make sure these records were forever more kept in the most prestigious fashion and that their dead would never be forgotten. Wishing to do this in the most efficient way possible Mortimer went to Arcanville where the wizards were known for being great record keepers out of necessity. While there he learned of a system known as the Fryknoss system of cataloguing that came from a church in Lucana. He became very obsessed with this church and belief system, most notably there system of government that had led to decades of peace in a country that had several different religions, just because they used agents of this church known as the Covenant to mediate all disputes. Mortimer’s insistence that these systems where put in place earned him the title of ‘preacher’, though this was hardly true in the religious way, he still took it as way to deliver his belief. 'Mortimer and the Covenant' In 214 QC after there had been numerous disputes over how the Ethos was taught from region to region in the land, the current Seleka Master and cleric, Sorbis Monroe and Selegon Padomar decided to unite the faith under one church and started consolidating and documenting all the beliefs into a single recognised system. In honour of Vaticae Selek who penned the original scriptures, this church was named the Vatic as was the title of its leader, so to remind all that the Vatic would not be infallible, but the act of man. This was going well, and rejuvenating the land until they go to Arcanville. The wizards, although without doubt respectful of the Ethos and the scriptures, had always done certain things their own way in regard to the magic they wielded and time dedicated to study of the arcane over what was being proposed. The disputes were heated as Pirellior Spellweaver was now head of the wizard city, and not as much a push over as his father Azamoph had been. This new Vatic rule would have wizardry seen as witchcraft, interpreting the Scriptures and local customs throughout the land on the subject of unethosian magic. At this time Mortimer was working closely with Pirellior, and he tried to act as a representative taking on the title of Vedig and old *** word meaning ***. But he was just passing hostilities over distances for months. Failing to utilize the methods of the Covenant of Fryknoss himself he took it upon himself to travel all that way to Lucana and contact them directly. In the winter of 215 QC the forces of the Vatic were literally at the gates of Arcanville in belief that an evil force compelled them to resist the will of the Vatic. Before the two came to blows the strange looking Covenant came out, in hooded robes, wearing scrolls, emotionless masks and only speaking via writing upon pieces of slate. These strange beings somehow negotiated a peace between then two forces, and over the next few days the Decree of Pious Collaboration was written for the wizards of Arcanville (to become part of the Arcavist Mandates) and the Vatic was forced to allow the wizards to continue study magic under the decree, and that their church attendance be mandatory so it might not conflict with their studies, but so neither would encroach upon the each others conditions known as the Accord of the Covenant, that were carved into stone in Antiok and passed down to all clerics of the Ethos. The Covenant would be called in to settle any disputes that would arise. Mortimer was hailed as a saviour for his actions and after this dedicated (and later acknowledged as a miracle due to the speed he got to Lucana and back), and then much of his life to settling disputes all over the land, in the belief that if Hilsyren was as orderly as Lucana, eternal peace could be found. Over the next few years he fought for the integration of a Fryknoss faith to be incorporated into the land, but the best he got was just in Arcanville, which was pretty good considering the Vatic’s strict rules on the matter*. Many even said Mortimer had the soul of a Fryknoss priest, but though he admired the God of Records Greatly, he said it did not have the heart of the Ethos to do good, and make the world a better place, just more ordered. * in fact many say that the reason the Vatic has been so severe with the incorporation of its belief structure into the Laws of Hilsyren, is due to the Accord of the Covenant, in hopes if they make in law, it cannot be later disputed 'Mortimer and the Lindle Wife' For the next few years Mortimer settled disputes all over the land, and regularly worked between the city of Arcanville and Antiok (where the Vatic was based before the Vaticar Citadel was built), but always called Black Lion his home, but in 221 QC the two came to blows again. For several years a powerful wizard force to the north dominated the arcane world; Taerlindel. From a fleet of flying castles they harnessed the dangerous power of storms to gain power unlike any seen before. Arcanville admired and feared them in equal parts, but new what they did was unsafe, and was one of the few points the Vatic agreed with them upon. But in the years since Pirellior Spellweaver had come to power he had wanted to restore the lost power of the citadel of Nanatar, namely Arcanville and through speaking to the wizards of Taerlindel, believed the power over the storm they harnessed wasn’t as unstable as they initially thought, due to a device they had made called the Storm Stone. His negotiations for information continued for several months and while their he developed a strong relationship with one of their female mages and in the summer of 221 wished to make her his wife. Though there had been weddings between people not of Hilsyren among the nobility, never before had it been with a nation who so opposed the delicate balance of the world as the Storm Mages did. The Vatic denied this right (having already established the integral connection between legal and religious marriage – important when it came to their offspring inheriting the throne) and Pirellior was up in arms about this bringing the conflicts all out in the open again. Because this matter didn't directly involve the Accord, the Covenant couldn't do anything about it, so Mortimer took the reigns at the age of 32. Through a long series of discussions he convinced the Vatic to trust this woman, that Hilsyren was a land about souls and guiding peoples actions, not bloodlines and elitism, and they should embrace this link to another land they see so abhorrent, for they should not think of how it may corrupt them, but how they can enlighten it. To Pirellior he said he if he was marrying this woman out of love, then he would be happy to forfeit her influence politically, but have her and him pass down all their wisdom to their children. Though neither side was completely content, they knew the wisdom of Mortimer’s words and eventually agreed and their second great conflict was averted. Over the next few years Mortimer performed many great deeds of peace and order, all the while keeping record of the heritage and sanctity of the Ethos. It is possibly his obsessive sense of order and cataloguing that allowed the new tenants of the Ethos be unified through out the numerous churches of the land before the completing of the Padomica et Ethosia. For his incredible contribution to not only the Ethos, but peace and order through almost impossible means, Mortimer was made a living saint. He did not rebuke this, despite seeking no such honours, as it would allow his methods to pass on more smoothly into everyday life of the church and Hilsyren. Refusing to ever resort to violence and suffering greatly physically at times because of this, the way was popular among the aesthetic monks of the land, who began their tradition of transcribing. 'Mortimer's Road' It was in 240s as he approached his last challenge, when the Vatic interpreting the scriptures that the holy land should not be divided, tried to bring back Ranadon into their embrace after its independence for over 200 years. Ranadon resisted and even elected a ‘king’ and many battles were being fought, on sea and on land in one of the bloodiest internal battles since the Reckoning. Saint Mortimer knew he had to get involved, but this was one of the greatest challenges he had ever faced. Travelling back and fourth from Black Lion to Arcanville to Ranadon so many times over this period, with no sleep or no food, it became a pilgrimage to follow him. Followers would ask him questions as he walked, and as he walked he would answer all these questions as he believed through them he would find insight. He made many great friends in Ranadon, allies who wanted peace but would not give up their land. He told them he would not rest until peace was made between to two, and as he walked and did not sleep, and did not eat they saw how he suffered but he vowed no matter how much either side begged he would not partake of food, water or rest, and now magic would aid his suffering. Upon the 8th of Kaelomber, just as the sun set, north of where is now Scalin Wood, Saint Mortimer died of exhaustion on a barren plain, so well tread with his own passage over years it left a road, this would forever be known as Mortimer's Road. Some say that his death was no accident, that it was his last great act of diplomatic genius, for both sides mourned his death and though initially they believed the other had killed him for some reason, when Ranadon’s mad king died through the chaos and disorder that followed Hilsyren was able to easily seize Ranadon, with lord Silvid Padomar (the successor to Pelegon) leading the charge. When the paladin lord fin ally confronted the remaining barons he laid down his sword and said his life was theirs and that all they wanted to do was help the sick and the injured and then in the spirit of St Mortimer talk to them. To this they agreed and it ended the war, and though the reunification didn't go well after five years Ranadon was part of Hilsyren again. It is said that Silvid’s obsession to bring peace not war to Ranadon came from a visit he had from the spirit of Saint Mortimer after his death, and not only that, but this spirit would come to all the First Lords of Hilsyren when Ranadon was not at peace. This has never been confirmed though, but it would be befitting. Never the less these and the many other deeds of the orphans son or a paladin and a paper maker led him to be one of the oldest and most respected Saints of the land of Hilsyren. 'Timeline' 189 QC: Mortimer born to a paladin and a paper maker 215 QC: Hilsyren Vatic created along with the watchful Covenant of Fryknoss with help from Mortimer 221 QC: First major feud between Arcanville and the Vatic as they fear Taerlindel may have influenced them. The cleric Mortimer of Black Lion tries to appeal for trust 249 QC: Saint Mortimer died in the winter on one last diplomatic mission for Ranadon. 'Game Rules' 'Domains' Good, Law, Magic, Knowledge, Herald PF update: Good, Law, Repose, Knowledge 'Skills and Feats' Bonus Class Skill: Knowledge (History) 'Oaths and Vows' Oath of St. Mortimer Vow of Nonviolence (check this in the Book of Exulted Deeds) 'Prestige Classes and Archtypes' WebRep currentVote noRatingnoWeight